I have to side with Wal-Mart on this one - Wal-Mart sued for prank pulled by 16 year old customer

Walmart sued for 'all black people must leave' prank
A black man is suing Walmart for $1 million in damages, claiming he suffered emotional distress while he was shopping at a store in Washington Township, N.J. On March 14, 2010, a voice came over the PA system announcing: "Attention Walmart customers: All black people leave the store now." A manager quickly took control of the microphone and a 16-year-old boy was later arrested for the prank. Donnell Battie's lawyers claim the megastore was negligent and reckless in allowing the incident to occur, and that he suffered from a number of psychological disorders as a result.

1. The store should

have controlled the access to their PA system better. It's hard to believe that they don't have any better security than to allow anyone to make announcements unchecked. What if this kid would have yelled "fire" and panicked everyone, possibly causing injuries to someone. This is Walmart's fault.

4. It depends on the system

I worked at Sams Club (which is the country club of Walmarts). We had the same PA system. Basically you pick up one of the phones and hit the 'loudspeaker' button. No codes needed. Im not sure if other stores have a code-system or if there is a company wide standard for phone/PA systems. It could happen though.

35. at the two wal marts I worked for

this is back in 1992-1995, Maine and Florida, we had codes on the phones. The codes were the same for all the stores. Not that hard to figure out, and many of the phones had the instructions on them for different extensions, and for the intercom system. All these years later, the code is still the same at the Maine store I worked at. I've been tempted many many times.....

13. I think your point is very clear

Wrong perhaps, but very clear.

Just because a large corporation has no heart, even though they have been declared a person, that does not make them responsible for the actions of mindless person, who is not associated with the company.

7. Well, now HERE'S a lawsuit that's destined to go a long way.

Someone once said something mean to me here, and it caused me much "emotional distress," leading to numerous "psychological disorders" and uh... the heartbreak of psoriasis, too. (Yeah, that's the ticket.) Therefore, I'm suing everyone here for a zillion dollars for letting it happen.

30. Because there is money to be had

Walmart will undoubtedly pay the guy -- and his attorney -- something (not a million or even close to a million), because it will cost them far less to make a "nuisance" settlement than to defend it thru trial.

26. Have to agree that Walmart isn't at fault here -

- We would feel differently about this case if this occurred at a small mom and pop shop. To want to make Walmart liable and pay for something that was not their fault isn't justice - it's vigilantism.

27. This is BS, the definition of a frivolous lawsuit,

and I am (1) someone who doesn't make that accusation lightly; and (2) a plaintiffs' attorney.

The standards for infliction of emotional distress are quite high and usually involve things like lying, libel, slander and the like. If I were a judge I would bounce this claim, should it be filed, on Rule 12 grounds - failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, and then sanction the hell out of any lawyer dumb enough to bring such a claim. Wal-Mart isn't responsible for the conduct of the public unless it involves something vastly more egregious than this. "Psychological disorders" my ass.

41. Wal-mart has a burden of limited responsibility in providing a safe environment for customers

to shop. This includes having security and employees that aren't mentally unbalanced/dangerous/etc. They are far more limited on their control of other customers but have to have SOME methods to prevent the customers from attacking each other.

As far as this incident walmart is only to blame in so far as they should have had better control of the PA system assuming one of the employees hadn't left it unsecured/easily accessed by anyone.

Now this person is not entitled to 1 million dollars for that outburst of a stupid kid. It would have been nearly identical had the kid brought in a megaphone and said the same thing, or had a personal amplified, or worse if he had said something more offensive and racist. Is Walmart to blame then, when he isn't using their property/equipment no they are not. They should react when employees are aware or informed of that kind of behavior to eject the customer or call the police.

I don't know if the customer suing had issues in another country or was the victim of racial attacks as those are pretty much the only ways I can see claiming emotional distress to the tune of $1 million dollars.